New Milford woman claims restaurant fired her over pregnancy

A former employee of the Ho-Ho-Kus Inn & Tavern is suing the restaurant for allegedly firing her when she became pregnant.Google street view

HO-HO-KUS —A New Milford woman claims that she was fired from her job at a Ho-Ho-Kus restaurant after she became pregnant.

Brittany Poveromo, 27, filed a discrimination lawsuit on Thursday against the Ho-Ho-Kus Inn & Tavern, alleging that she was terminated shortly after two trips to the hospital related to her pregnancy. She claims that the inn wrongfully fired her four months after she started working as an assistant manager.

Poveromo was five months pregnant when she was let go Sept. 5, following two trips to the emergency room in August, according to the lawsuit filed in Bergen County Superior Court. In the complaint, she claims that her doctor ok'd her return to work, but she was fired the day after she received medical clearance.

A manager named in the lawsuit, James Guttuso, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. The inn's attorney, Doug Kamm, told the Record that management had offered Poveromo her job back after receiving her doctor's note, but she'd refused.

Poveromo's attorney, Diane Lucianna, said on Tuesday that after her client was fired, she lost her apartment and was forced to move back in with her mother. She said that the job loss was particularly devastating because Poveromo grew up surrounded by the restaurant business, since her family owns a few restaurants.

“It’s been very upsetting for her," she said. "She's been in the restaurant business for her whole life."

Lucianna also noted that Poveromo is a single mother, which her client believes played a part in her getting fired. Poveromo's son was born in January.